La Cérémonie (1995)

Directed by

Claude Chabrol

Genre

drama film

Country

Germany, France

Runtime

1h 51m

Rated

NR

Rating

7.3 of 10 from 401 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A maid named Sophie goes to work for a wealthy family in the French countryside. She becomes friends with the local postmistress Jeanne, and their bond slowly turns dangerous.

tenseunsettlingslow-burndarkly comiccerebralominouspsychologicalchilling

What happens

La Cérémonie (English: lit. The Ceremony also known as A Judgment in Stone) is a 1995 French psychological thriller film by written and directed by Claude Chabrol. Starring Isabelle Huppert and Sandrine Bonnaire and adapted from the 1977 novel A Judgement in Stone by British writer Ruth Rendell. The story follows Sophie, a woman hired to work as a maid for the rich Lelièvre family, in the French countryside. There, she befriends Jeanne, the local postmistress, but soon, their friendship starts taking an increasingly dark turn. The film echoes the true case of Christine and Léa Papin, two French maids who brutally murdered their employer's wife and daughter in 1933, as well as the 1947 play they inspired, The Maids by Jean Genet. The film received widespread critical acclaim with praise for its layered screenplay and Chabrol's directing, as well as Bonnaire and Huppert's performances, chemistry and dynamic. In an interview, South Korean director Bong Joon Ho said the movie was his main inspiration for his Oscar-winning acclaimed 2019 film, Parasite. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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